Convergence Devices: EPOS Digital Pen & USB Flash Drive

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I’ve grown somewhat weary of all the convergence devices that claim they’ll make life that much easier and a lot less cluttered, but EPOS is a wee bit different, so hold on to your britches.

EPOS showcased a digital pen and USB flash drive at CES this year and CG expects to get their grubby paws on one any day now. I spoke with EPOS CEO Oded Turbahn and he was super enthusiastic about the potential this device has to make a few tedious tasks that much easier.

So what exactly does this device do and why should you want to buy one? If you take a lot of meetings or you prefer to write with a pen rather than pecking at a keyboard, then this device is perfect for you. All you have to do is write or sketch as you normally would and everything is wirelessly transmitted to the USB flash drive. Sounds simple doesn’t it? That’s because it is!

Once the flash drive is connected to your PC, the handwritten information can be saved as an image or converted into text in conjunction with any standard handwriting-recognition software. Storage capacity is set for 512MB at launch, but I’m told that can change very easily with upgrades to follow once the consumer market takes notice. With a 512MB storage space you can expect around 1,000 pages to be stored.

The EPOS digital pen and USB flash drive is Vista compatible. The pen and flash drive can be about 10 feet apart and still maintain a proper connection allowing for data transmission. The bundle drops in July and expect to pay around $80. Stay tuned for a CG Hands On in the coming weeks.